The first country I lived in was Italy. More specifically La Maddalena, Sardinia an island off of an island. Small, remote, absolutely beautiful...
I lived in the upper right corner, a small cluster or islands, Palau is the city on Sardinia.
Italian ( italiano (help·info), or lingua italiana) is a Romance language spoken as mother-tongue by about 60 million people in Italy, and by a total of around 75 million in the world[1]. In Switzerland, Italian is one of four official languages. It is also the official language of San Marino, as well as the primary language of Vatican City.[2] Standard Italian, adopted by the state after the unification of Italy, is based on Tuscan (in particular on the dialects of the city of Florence) and is somewhat intermediate between the Italo-Dalmatian languages of the South and the Gallo-Romance Northern Italian languages. Its development was also influenced by the other Italian dialects and by the Germanic language of the post-Roman Barbaric invaders but first and foremost it has been directly and heavily influenced by Latin.
Unlike most other Romance languages, Italian has retained the contrast between short and long consonants which existed in Latin. As in most Romance languages, stress is distinctive. Of the Romance languages, Italian is considered to be the closest to Latin in terms of vocabulary.[3] Lexical similarity is 89% with French, 87% with Catalan, 85% with Sardinian, 82% with Spanish, 78% with Rhaeto-Romance, 77% with Romanian, and 52% with Maltese.[1][4]
I lived in Italy for 3 years out in town dealing with the locals everyday and still had a hard time picking up the language.
A a a
B b bi
C c ci
D d di
E e e
F f effe
G g gi
H h acca
I i i
L l elle
M m emme
N n enne
O o o
P p pi
Q q cu
R r erre
S s esse
T t ti
U u u
V v vi/vu
Z z zeta
Italian Alphabet
Italian Flag
My first underway was to the Gulf of Guinea, West Africa. Where I attempted to switch from Italian to French, didn't work out so well.
French is a Romance language (meaning that it is descended from Latin) that evolved out of the Gallo-Romance dialects spoken in northern France.
The discussion of the history of a language is typically divided into "external history", describing the ethnic, political, social, technological, etc. changes that impacted the languages, and "internal history", describing the phonological and grammatical changes undergone by the language itself.
The French alphabet is exactly the same as the English alphabet, except the letters are pronounced differently. Following are the approximate French pronunciations for each letter.
A ah N en
B bay O op
C say P pay
D day Q koo
E uk R ehr
F ef S es
G ghay T tay
H ash U oo
I ee V vay
J jhay W doo-blaw-vay
K ka X ex
L el Y ee-grek
M em Z zed
French Alphabet
French Flag
Next would be Spanish. My ship pulled into Rota, Spain several times. I have taken Spanish in high school, but our language classes weren't that great. So I ended up relying on my Spanish-Speaking friend.
Spanish (español) sometimes called Castilian (castellano) is a Romance language that originated in northern Spain, and gradually spread in the Kingdom of Castile and evolved into the principal language of government and trade. It was taken most notably to the Americas, and also to Africa and Asia Pacific with the expansion of the Spanish Empire between the fifteenth and nineteenth centuries.
In contemporary Spain, Castilian is just one of several regional languages spoken including Aranese, Basque, Catalan/Valencian and Galician. Today, about 350 million people speak Spanish as a native language, making it the world's second most spoken language in terms of native speakers but fourth in terms of total speakers. Mexico contains the largest population of Spanish speakers.
Spanish is growing increasingly popular as a second or third language in a number of countries due to logistical, economic, and touristic interest towards the many nations which chiefly use Spanish as the primary language. This phenomenon is most notable in Brazil, the United States, Italy, France, Portugal, and much of the Anglosphere in general.
A: a
B: be
C: ce
CH: che
D: de
E: e
F: efe
G: ge
H: hache
I: i
J: jota
K: ka
L: ele
LL: elle
M: eme
N: ene
Ñ: eñe
O: o
P: pe
Q: cu
R: ere
S: ese
T: te
U: u
V: ve
W: uve doble
X: equis
Y: i griega
Z: zeta
Spanish Alphabet
Spain's Flag
The next country is Montenegro. We were there for their one year Independance Day.
I have explored the areas of Tivat and Kotor.
Montenegrin language (Црногорски језик, Crnogorski jezik) is the name given to the Ijekavian-Štokavian dialect spoken in Montenegro. It is recognized[3] as a specific language and is official language of the country, but some Serbs regard it to be a variant of the Serbian language. Since 2004 the Montenegrin and European academic and literary community has been slowly promoting the idea of the reinstitution of Montenegrin language to the public, a movement which has its origins as far back as 1993 and the fall of totalitarianism. As of Montenegrin 2006 independence, there is an ongoing political controversy over the subject, culminating with its promulgation into the official language of Montenegro in the new Constitution on 22 October 2007.
Montenegrin Cirillic Alphabet*
Montenegrin Latin Alphabet**
Montenegro Flag
From here the languages get harder. I moved to Souda Bay, Crete, Greece, an island off the mainland. Beautiful, again difficult time learning the language. At least Italian and Spanish I can make out what things mean, then dealing with a completely differant set of symbols.
Ancient Greeks spoke in different ways from place to place. That means that the language was taking different forms from place to place, forms which are known as dialects. In Sparta they had the Doric dialect ( ), in Athens they had the Attic dialect ( ) and other dialects in other places. This, however, didn't prevent them from communicating and understanding each other without great difficulties, because the differences between the dialects were not very significant. Their language was virtually the same. Take the Modern Greek word (mother) for instance. In Athens, it was , whereas in Sparta it was . The Athenian article was in Sparta. As you can see, the differences were not this important so as to make a different language, but only a different dialect.
The common language ( ), however, was developed much later, after the Classical Age, in the years between 300 B.C. and 300 A.D. This language, that gradually became the common language of all Greeks, came from the Attic dialect and in particular the one spoken in Athens between 500 and 400 B.C., namely the time that Athens had reached the zenith of their glory. But in order for the Attic dialect to become a common language it had to borrow words from other dialects as well. This happened at the time that Alexander the Great was conquering Middle East, so this common language became (with time) a language of the Middle Easterners as well. It was spoken and written everywhere: Syria, Asia Minor (modern Turkey), Persia (modern Iran), Egypt etc. It had become in a way the international language of that era.
Greek Alphabet
Crete Flag
Greek Flag
Last but not least, Korea. And most likely the hardest language to learn so far.
Korean (한국어/조선말, see below) is the official language of North Korea and South Korea. It is also one of the two official languages in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in China. There are about 78 million Korean speakers. It was formerly written using Hanja, borrowed Chinese characters pronounced in the Korean way. In the 15th century a national writing system was developed by Sejong the Great, currently called Hangul.
The genealogical classification of the Korean language is debated. Some linguists place it in the Altaic language family, while others consider it to be a language isolate. It is agglutinative in its morphology and SOV in its syntax.
Korean Alphabet
Korean Flag
I'm jelous of those who can just listen and pick up a language. I have to study and practice to pick up the basics.
-Sam-
